Synthesis, characterization, and evaluation of PEGylated first-row transition metal ferrite nanoparticles as: T 2 contrast agents for high-field MRI

Abstract

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-coated transition metal ferrite (MFe2O4; M = Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Zn) nanoparticles (NPs) were generated by a one-pot synthetic protocol and found to be small, fairly monodisperse, and superparamagnetic in nature. When evaluated for high-field magnetic resonance imaging, these showed high values of r2 and r2/r1 at 9.4 T. The well-documented biocompatibility of PEG coatings makes these NPs attractive candidates as T2 contrast agents for high-field MRI. A systematic comparison of magnetic and relaxivity measurements reveals MnFe2O4 and CoFe2O4 NPs to be superior T2 MRI contrast agents compared to Fe3O4 NPs.